


A Most Devious Plot

by thetroll



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:27:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23165455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetroll/pseuds/thetroll
Summary: In the modern era, Kagome finds Mokomoko an auction store, buys it, and then runs into Sesshomaru in the past. He, of course, recognizes it but does not understand how she came to find it. She refuses to explain.She won't give Mokomoko up. And Sesshomaru doesn't intend to let the matter drop.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/Sesshoumaru
Comments: 28
Kudos: 740
Collections: Fics in the Time of Coronavirus





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Mythicamagic dropped this prompt:  
> Random fic idea 401: Mokomoko is on sale at an auction
> 
> I took a few liberties with the general concept and blended in a second challenge, too:  
> For Stormie's challenge:  
> "It's About Time" Challenge - Modern day Sess interferes in his own love life by somehow getting Kagome and his past self together. Length doesn't matter, no due date, any rating, let yo creativity do its worst best with this one.
> 
> Anyway HERE WE GO!

_Could it be?_

Kagome could hardly breathe as she made her way to the back of the tiny little vintage shop, drawn to the very item that seemed so out of place in a shop full of vintage knickknacks. Amongst clothing dating from before the First World War and an assortment of old, dull swords sat a white, fluffy boa-looking object that, in her mind, could be nothing else's.

It looked like the fur that Sesshomaru wore back in the feudal era.

"Caught your eye, did it?" the clerk leaned on the counter as she smiled at Kagome. There was nothing remarkable about the clerk and yet Kagome couldn't help but feel that there _must_ be.

"It did," Kagome admitted, hesitating to reach out to touch it. Somehow, she could still see the look of disapproval on Sesshomaru's face, even though she knew she'd never sensed yoki in this time—let alone Sesshomaru's.

It was just as well; there was a sign next to it that clearly read: "No touching."

The clerk rested her chin on her hand. "Most people don't even notice it's there."

Kagome offered the clerk a small smile. "It's kind of hard to miss." She waved a hand at the size of the furry decoration, which was so large that it had to be draped on four large hooks to keep it from touching the floor.

"Mmm." The clerk waved her free hand. "Most people aren't really looking."

From that, Kagome guessed the clerk mostly saw people in to window shop, which had been Kagome's initial intent herself until she'd spied the object before her. Now that she'd seen it, however, she knew she wouldn't be walking away without it.

She _had_ to have it. She didn't know what compelled her so strongly, but the urge wouldn't go away. 

"How much is it?" Kagome turned to face the clerk fully as she mentally counted the money her mother had given her as a stipend. She hoped it would be enough; she'd already spent some of it on medical supplies for her friends and should have been on her way to the convenience store to pick up snacks, but now she was quickly revising that plan. InuYasha would just have to do without ramen for a little bit.

The clerk stared at her. "Well," she drawled slowly, "it's been there for awhile, I guess. The owner kind of wants it gone; it's taking up a lot of space. But it's also really good quality."

Kagome tried not to fidget, remembering her mother's negotiation skills. The clerk seemed willing to bargain but if Kagome looked too eager, the price might end up being more than she could afford. "It looks like it hasn't been washed in awhile," Kagome said dubiously, eying a few smudges in the fur. In fact, now that she stepped a little closer to study it, she thought it had an odd, musty smell that reminded her of—well, _something_. 

She just couldn't put her finger on what.

"Hmmm." The clerk was silent for a moment. "Well, I guess it probably hasn't been washed in awhile. But I can't give it away for free, either. The owner would tear my hair out." She ran her free hand through her her long, straight black locks. "Fifty thousand yen seems fair."

Kagome blanched. Fifty thousand? She eyed the fur before her and recounted. She had exactly _five_ thousand yen on hand, a tenth of the asking price, and suddenly she wasn't sure she'd actually be able to negotiate for it. 

Kagome inhaled sharply and thought quickly. "It would have to be professionally cleaned," she pointed out, though she knew her mother would be capable of doing it. Her mother had worked her way through college at a laundromat, after all. "That would probably cost several thousand yen right there, if not more. It looks really delicate."

The clerk eyed the fur. "It _is_ difficult to keep clean," she admitted. "Fine, I'll drop the price to twenty thousand yen."

 _Still too high._ Kagome squeezed her lips to the side as she thought through how to bring the price down more but all she could focus on was how it would feel wrapped around her. She wouldn't have to sleep in her sleeping bag if she didn't want to _and_ she would get a pillow out of it, too. 

"I dunno," Kagome tried to sound dubious. "It seems like it would be difficult to take home without a car. It would probably get dirtier along the way."

The clerk's brow raised as her lips twitched. "You're a shrewd little thing, aren't you? Fifteen thousand yen and I'll wrap it for you so it doesn't drag."

"Five thousand," Kagome blurted, throwing all of her cards on the table. "I won't even need a bag."

The clerk pressed her lips together for a moment, considering. "Bagging it would be kind of annoying." She was silent for another moment. "Fine, fine, five thousand."

Kagome didn't even hesitate; she had her wallet out and her coins on the counter before the clerk even finished speaking.

The clerk looked like she was trying not to laugh as she punched in the transaction into the register. A receipt came spewing out. "This receipt is a confirmation of purchase," she cautioned, tearing the receipt off of the printer. "We're a vintage store; we don't do returns. Once you walk out of here, it's yours. We aren't responsible for anything that happens to it after that."

"That's fine," Kagome said eagerly, already picturing what the furry boa would look like wrapped around her. She had no intentions of ever returning it, anyway. 

The clerk handed her the receipt. "Let me get it down and then it's yours."

Kagome shifted her weight, trying not to dance about in excitement as the clerk got a ladder and took the boa down. She was careful to keep it off the ground, though it meant her hands were completely full of the white fur.

"Here you go."

Kagome took the fur, draping it around her neck as she sighed happily. It was so soft—in fact, it was the softest thing she'd ever touched. The individual furs felt like silk and, instead of tickling and overheating her skin as fur was wont to do, it lay against it, cool and smooth. "Thank you," she said gratefully. She couldn't _wait_ to take it back home and snuggle up with it. It was so long she could wrap it all around herself and still have a little bit to spare.

"You're welcome, Kagome."

Kagome was grinning as she left the shop, juggling her other purchases so she could make sure the precious fur never touched the ground, never noticing that she'd never given the clerk her name.

After the priestess left, the clerk turned to the yokai hiding in the corner. "So what are you going to do next?" the wolf yokai asked, raising a brow. She still couldn't believe that the daiyokai had voluntarily given his mokomoko up.

A small smile tugged at his lips, making her feel more than a little nervous. "Nothing," he said calmly. "She will do more than enough."

And with those ominous words, he turned and left her shop.


	2. Chapter 2

Hauling the fur home had been challenging enough; Kagome's arms had been burning and aching by the time she'd made it home.

 _Getting it through the well_ had been another matter entirely. Kagome still wasn't entirely sure how she'd gotten it through the well once she and her mother had cleaned it. Her mother, at least, had taken the fur in with the same stride she'd taken in Kagome's time traveling. She'd also helped Kagome prepare rice balls to take back with her, in the hopes that Kagome might appease InuYasha's stomach when he realized there would be no ramen.

"Oy, where's the ramen?" InuYasha called out the moment Kagome reached the feudal era. He peered over the edge of the well, no doubt expecting to see a yellow backpack, full to bursting, which would have his precious ramen. "What the fuck?! What," he said, his tone dropping, "is _that_?"

He didn't point to the fur but he didn't need to.

"It's just a boa, InuYasha. People wear them in my time all the time," she said, hoping he wouldn't call her out on that. He'd never seen anyone wearing them in her time before and certainly not one as gargantuan as the one she was wearing, but she also didn't care. She wanted to wear it and he wasn't going to stop her. 

"The fuck it is!" InuYasha glowered at her as she offered a hand to have him help pull her out. "That shit looks just like the bastard's tail. Take it off; we're burning it."

 _Tail?_ She filed the thought away to consider later.

Kagome glared back, hoping he would still help her out of the well. If she had to use the vine to climb out, she would probably end up getting bits of dirt and shards of wood in the fur she'd just spent the last few hours cleaning. "I paid good money for this, InuYasha! We aren't burning it or doing anything else to harm it, either. Besides, you should feel it. It's so soft and silky!" She sighed with pleasure as she rubbed her face against it.

InuYasha opened his mouth and then shut it, flushing as he took in her pleased expression. "Keh." He took her hand and pulled her out of the well. "Whatever. Where's my ramen?"

She had the feeling he wasn't dropping the subject forever and she made a mental note to talk to Shippo about helping her keep an eye on her new fluffy boa. "Um, I couldn't get any," she said truthfully, unwilling to explain _why_. "But Mamma helped me make rice balls and a few other snacks for you guys!"

InuYasha clicked his tongue but, to Kagome's surprise, he didn't bother to argue. "The others're waitin'," he groused. "Hurry up; we got shards to find."

Kagome was relieved he didn't press the topic. "Yeah, yeah, let us eat first, okay? The food I brought is best fresh."

InuYasha, to Kagome's surprise, only gave a courtesy protest before acquiescing.

Later, once they'd started out again, Kagome couldn't help but notice that both Shippo and Sango were occasionally giving her odd looks, likely due to her new accessory. Miroku seemed to take it in stride, only commenting that the fur looked fetching against her skin—a comment that had resulted in the handprint now across his face from Sango's hand—and InuYasha was his usual grumpy self about how lunch had inevitably delayed them.

But whatever it was about the fur that had both Sango and Shippo so interested, neither of them seemed willing to discuss it in front of Miroku and InuYasha.

It was only when they stopped to make camp for the night that Sango finally pulled Kagome aside, stressing strongly that they needed to bathe.

"So what's on your mind?" Kagome asked once they were soaking alone in a nearby hot spring. Shippo was paddling about in the water, using the little arm floats Kagome had brought back for him a few months back, but she saw his interest as soon as she spoke.

Sango hesitated and then remarked, "That's a very lovely fur, Kagome-chan."

"Isn't it?" Kagome beamed. She'd brought the fur in the water with her, figuring that the water wouldn't harm it any—she didn't exactly trust it out of sight after InuYasha's threats—and had still kept it draped around her to preserve her modesty as they soaked. She ran her fingers through the soft fur and sighed.

"Ah," Sango's eyes widened a little, "where did you find it?"

Kagome explained how she'd found the fur in a shop, careful to try and translate it enough that Sango would understand what had happened.

"I see." Sango nodded slowly. "So you bought this _boa_ ," she said the word slowly, waiting for Kagome to nod that she'd used the right word before continuing, "at a stall. A stall that specialized in selling items that were not recently made." Sango bit her lower lip as she fell silent.

Kagome waited, knowing her friend would continue when she was ready to do so. In the meantime, she decided to get her comb and use it to run through the fur to untangle any knots that might have appeared since she'd returned to the feudal era. She didn't want the fur to mat.

"Um, Kagome-chan? I don't think you should do that." Sango's eyes widened as she watched Kagome groom the fur.

Kagome glanced up to see Sango looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Why not? I don't want the fur getting matted."

"Because it belongs to a really powerful yokai," Shippo spoke up then, his voice loud as he floated on his back, paddling closer to Kagome. " _Really_ powerful. In fact," he sniffed the fur pointedly, "it kind of smells like dog."

Hardly surprising; it probably came from another inuyokai. Kagome nodded. Personally, she doubted it was any they knew; she couldn't see Sesshomaru, alive _or_ dead, allowing a human to gain custody of his pelt.

Sango opened her mouth to respond to that when a familiar yoki impressed upon Kagome's senses. The way it pulled at her seemed to scream for her reiki to rise and match it, but like she had every other time since she'd encountered this particular yokai, she pushed it back.

 _Sesshomaru_.

He was conspicuously alone as he walked through the clearing, giving no sign that he'd noticed either woman, and Kagome figured he probably had every intention of leaving before InuYasha even realized the inuyokai was there.

At least Sango and Kagome herself had been covered enough; Sango by a towel and Kagome by the furry boa she was still brushing.

Kagome herself wasn't surprised that Sesshomaru kept walking. Stopping would mean that he was affected by their near-nakedness and Sesshomaru would probably sooner fall on his own new blade than admit that he'd happened to catch sight of two human women bathing.

But then he stopped short and slowly turned, his eyes widening as he saw the fur Kagome was brushing in her hand. "Priestess," he rumbled, his yoki rising, "where did you get that?"

Kagome cursed under her breath. If Sesshomaru recognized it on sight, that could only mean one thing: it was his. And that was one contingency she hadn't planned for.

_How do you even explain this, anyway? Hey, Sesshomaru, I found this at a store in my time and bought it and brought it back with me. Surprise! I'm a time traveling priestess._

Yeah, that probably wouldn't go over well, assuming he believed her. Not to mention the fact that she was more than a little uncomfortable letting a yokai like Sesshomaru know where she was from. He might just decide to destroy the well out of spite or find some sudden interest in her time.

And who even knew what he'd decide to do with that information once he had it? He seemed hell-bent on conquering all of the yokai in Japan when she'd first met him and Kagome wasn't really willing to risk anything that might help him with that. Doing so could change the future for the worse.

 _It's a shame_ , she thought to herself with a sigh. _He's beautiful but his personality really sucks._

"Priestess," he prompted her, reminding her that she hadn't answered.

She licked her dry lips. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she finally settled on.

His brow raised. "You are in possession of something that is not yours. You will hand it over to this one, _now_."

Kagome immediately bristled. "Hey, I paid for this," she hissed, wrapping the fur a little more firmly around herself as she heard Sango take a sharp breath. _Besides, you already have one._ "It's mine."

He stiffened.

"Ah, Kagome-chan?" Sango whispered. "I really think you should hand it over to him."

"No way," Kagome protested. "I paid five thousand yen for this; I'm not just handing it over." Sure, Sesshomaru could be really scary when he wanted to be, but Kagome had shot him with her arrows before. She could purify him if she needed to.

_I hope._

"Mokomoko is not yours." Sesshomaru's lips thinned. "However much you paid for it is irrelevant."

 _So that's what it's called then. Mokomoko. Well, it does sound better than fluffy boa_ , she admitted to herself.

"Oy! Bastard!" InuYasha came rushing towards the hot spring, Tessaiga already unsheathed. "You ain't welcome here."

Miroku was a few steps behind InuYasha. "Kagome-sama, Sango-san, are you both alright?" He kept one hand firmly on the beads keeping his wind tunnel sealed shut.

Sango nodded, already reaching for her own weapon laying just at the edge of the hot spring.

"We're fine," Kagome said, her fingers moving to absently stroke the fur around her, not even noticing how the tension seemed to leave Sesshomaru's body as she did so.

Sesshomaru did not move to either sword at his hip. "Calm yourself, hanyo. This one is not here for you."

"Keh. I know what you're here for and you ain't gonna get it." InuYasha waved Tessaiga in the air. "Back off."

Sesshomaru eyed the group and seemed to come to a decision. He turned to leave but as he did so, he said over his shoulder, "You will explain yourself, priestess, when this one sees you next."

Kagome flushed at the heated promise in his words even as she told herself that, no matter what happened, she would never tell Sesshomaru the truth.


	3. Chapter 3

Sesshomaru was never far away after that encounter. Over the next few weeks, Kagome would occasional pick up on traces of his yoki, reminding her that he was never far away.

Curiously, every time she felt his yoki, the mokomoko she carried would warm, soothing her as she snuggled deeper into the soft fur. That action, in turn, seemed to further provoke the yoki into stirring against her, feeling, oddly, like a sort of hug.

But though she knew he must be curious, he did not seek her out again, almost as if he somehow knew how overprotective InuYasha had become.

Sesshomaru might be patient but she doubted he was ever the time to give up. She privately believed it was only a mater of time before he confronted her again about mokomoko.

True to her suspicions, that moment came when, after a battle with Naraku's newest incarnation, Kagome had become separated from the rest of her friends. She'd wandered in the direction she'd hoped to find them, but given the attempted kidnapping for her power, she wasn't entirely sure she was heading the right way in the first place. She'd been too busy trying to repel her would-be kidnapper to pay attention.

 _I should probably wait for InuYasha to find me_ , she reflected, but that could take awhile and she didn't want to just sit around and wait, either. 

She was unsurprised when Sesshomaru suddenly appeared before her in a great ball of golden light, idly running a hand through his hair. "Priestess," he greeted her.

"Hello, Sesshomaru." Wrapped around her, the mokomoko pulsed as if it recognized Sesshomaru.

"You will explain how you came to possess Mokomoko." His tone was firm as he stared at her.

She wished she had more than a bow and a few arrows to defend herself, knowing it wouldn't be much of a defense. And yet, despite his demanding attitude, she was oddly convinced that he had no intentions of hurting her. "Well, wherever I got it, it's not yours," she said, though she was no longer certain of that. "You're wearing your own."

She didn't care how much he complained; the fur was hers now and she wasn't going to give it back just because he didn't think a human should be wearing one.

"Is it not?" He quirked a brow. "What this one cannot determine is how you came to possess something of his when, as you have said, he still possesses his own."

She laughed nervously. "W-well..."

"Do you understand what it is that you possess?" His lips twitched as if he was amused and she wasn't certain she wanted to know what he found so funny. "What it _represents_ now that it is in your possession?"

She blinked. "What do you mean? It's just a furry boa."

If he didn't understand the foreign word, he didn't show any hint of that. "How is it that you, a human priestess, could be so ignorant? How is it that you lack the necessary knowledge to understand what you have done?"

" _Done_?" She felt her temper rise at the insinuation that she'd done something wrong. "All I did was buy something I _liked_ , Sesshomaru."

"So the hanyo did not explain the circumstances to you." His lips thinned. "Very well. By carrying Mokomoko as you have, _Kagome_ , you are announcing possession and intent— _my_ possession and intent."

She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of such a thing until she realized how odd InuYasha had acted when he saw the fur around her shoulders. "So...this is yours?" she asked faintly, feeling a little off-kilter.

He lifted his chin in silent agreement. "You have been _witnessed_ wearing it. By refusing to relinquish it as you have, you have given your consent to the match."

"So why had it been sold to a vintage store?" she grumbled to herself, not even realizing that she'd spoken aloud. Had Sesshomaru already long since died before her time and the fur had somehow come into someone else's possession and then it had later been sold to the shop? Or had Sesshomaru _himself_ sold it?

She'd never sensed yoki in her time, not of a yokai of his caliber, at any rate, but—

She caught her breath as he lifted her chin up to meet his golden gaze. She hadn't even seen him move. 

"Perhaps," he murmured, "you wished to be taken by this one."

She licked her dry lips, trying to ignore how he watched the movement. "S-so this really is a sign of betrothal?" 

"It is." His expression was as nonchalant as his tone. "This one's mother still wears the one she received from this one's father during their courtship. In doing so, the male is able to remain aware of his female's state of being. It also allows for...additional intimacy."

He stared pointedly at her hand that had been absently stroking the fur in a gesture of comfort.

She froze as he chuckled. "Ahh..." She hesitated. She didn't even want to know what he meant by that. She was just too afraid to ask as the look in his eyes heated.

He was _interested_ , she realized, swallowing. And that interest staring back at her did things to her body that he had no right to be doing.

His hand suddenly shifted from her jaw to her throat and, with a quick movement, he jerked her head to the side and tugged the fur back to expose her skin. Before she could do more than squeak in surprise, he bent his head and sunk his sharp teeth into the basis of her neck.

It hurt for a moment, so much so that she hadn't been able to contain her shriek. And then, just as suddenly, the pain faded into a dull ache that ran straight to her core as she flushed. 

He pulled back with a satisfied smirk, rearranging the fur so that it proudly encircled his bite mark, as though showing it off. "You are mine now, Kagome," he rumbled, his voice a deep purr. "All that remains now is to consummate the bond. It is most fortunate for us both that I have proven to be talented in such a manner."

He pulled her to him and summoned his cloud, taking her off to do exactly that, swallowing any protest she might have offered in a soul-wrenching, heated kiss.

Five hundred years in the future, Sesshomaru closed his eyes as he felt the mating bond click into place. He had been foolish once, not acting on his desires because of his own prejudice. It was only later, after she'd ended up married to the hanyo in a bond that neither had been entirely happy with, that he'd realized what he'd lost, though he'd been unable to do anything about it.

Later, he'd learned the truth of her origins from Rin and he'd begun to plan, realizing that he might yet remedy his error. By giving her his Mokomoko laden heavily with his scent, he'd ensured that the past version of himself would not be able to ignore her.

And the Mokomoko would do the rest. The more she interacted with it, the more she would drive his past self deeper into the desires he'd sought to repress ever since he'd first become aware of her existence. Her refusal to return the fur would only fuel his passions until anger bled over into lust, finally breaking through the walls around his heart.

He sighed, contented, as the two timelines merged, flooding him with memories of all that had transpired following his interference.

Turning on his heel, he headed home as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself, all too aware now of _who_ would be waiting for him now.

When he flung open the door, he found her sitting on the couch, idly reading a book. She looked up in surprise just as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the pent up emotion he'd withheld from her for five hundred years.

Breathless when she pulled free, she breathed, "What's gotten into you, Sesshomaru? You're supposed to be working on the—"

"Work isn't necessary," he told her, pulling her to him and cradling her head with his hand. "Loving you _is_."

He felt her melt against him as he sank down into the couch, bringing her with him, and he was grateful the children he hadn't truly known, though the memories washed over him, weren't at home. There would be plenty of time for him to acquaint himself with them later.

For now, he pulled her closer to him and dedicated himself to showering her with everything he had to give, all too grateful that this was one mistake he had finally been able to correct.


End file.
